World

Topics represented

Roman Empire (81) · World history (71) · British Empire (59) · Politics (57) · Law & constitutions (48) · Culture (42) · Resistance & colonized agency (38) · Colonization & sovereignty (35) · Law & imperial government (33) · War & military technology (29) · Decolonization & independence (26) · Self-government & Commonwealth (17)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. 112 BCE–105 BCE

   Jugurthine War

   Rome fought Jugurtha of Numidia in North Africa. The conflict challenged senatorial conduct of war and raised commanders such as Marius politically, without reducing its causes to individual corruption.

2. c. 107 BCE

   Marius’ command and late-Republican recruitment

   Marius’ consulship and Numidian command are reference points for changes in recruitment, military careers, and dependence on commanders. Attributing all of those changes to one reform in 107 BCE remains debated.

3. 104 BCE–100 BCE

   Second Sicilian Slave War

   The Second Sicilian Slave War lasted from 104 to 100 BCE. Its recurrence on the island shows that coerced labor and provincial administration continued to generate conflict.

4. 91 BCE–88 BCE

   Social War and Italian citizenship

   Italian allies rebelled after citizenship proposals were blocked. The war led to extensions of citizenship for many free communities in Italy through uneven legal and local processes.

5. 89 BCE–63 BCE

   Mithridatic Wars

   Wars against Mithridates VI of Pontus extended Roman military intervention in the eastern Mediterranean. Their campaigns combined local conflicts, provincial finance, and competition among Roman commanders.

6. 88 BCE–79 BCE

   Sulla’s civil wars and dictatorship

   Rivalry between Sulla and his opponents culminated in civil war, proscriptions, and Sulla’s dictatorship. His reforms strengthened the Senate and limited the tribunate, but did not permanently stabilize the Republic.

7. 73 BCE–71 BCE

   Spartacus revolt

   The Third Servile War brought enslaved people and other followers together against Rome in Italy. Its defeat does not erase the diversity of participants or slavery’s centrality to the Roman economy.

8. 67 BCE–62 BCE

   Pompey’s extraordinary commands

   Laws of 67 and 66 BCE granted Pompey exceptional commands against pirates and Mithridates. The case shows how the Republic concentrated military and fiscal resources in individual commanders during expansion.

9. c. 60 BCE

   Informal First Triumvirate

   Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus formed an informal political alliance to coordinate interests and offices. It was not a magistracy created by law, but a changing agreement among elites with unequal resources.

10. 58 BCE–50 BCE

    Caesar’s Gallic Wars

    Caesar’s campaigns subdued or allied with numerous communities in Gaul and enlarged his military and political power. Death and captive totals in ancient sources are disputed and are not presented here as reliable counts.

11. 49 BCE–45 BCE

    Caesar–Pompey civil war

    The break between Caesar and Pompey opened civil war in Italy, Greece, Africa, and Iberia. The crisis arose from constitutional disputes and military rivalries; it was not the inevitable result of one decision.

12. 46 BCE–45 BCE

    Julian calendar reform

    Caesar introduced a solar calendar that reordered Roman civic timekeeping. Its implementation combined calculation, political decision, and administration; later adjustments show it was not a finished, immutable system.

13. 44 BCE

    Caesar’s lifelong dictatorship and assassination

    Caesar received the lifelong dictatorship and was assassinated on 15 March 44 BCE. The killing did not restore the Republic: it opened another series of civil wars and disputes over authority.

14. 43 BCE–33 BCE

    Second Triumvirate and proscriptions

    Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus received extraordinary legal powers as triumvirs. Their proscriptions and wars redistributed property and power through political violence; the alliance did not remain stable throughout the period.

15. 31 BCE–30 BCE

    Actium and the annexation of Egypt

    Octavian’s victory over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium was decisive in the civil war; the next year Egypt came under Roman rule. It was not the “end” of Egyptian societies or a transition without violence.

16. c. 27 BCE–c. 23 BCE

    Augustan imperial provinces and standing army

    The Principate distinguished senatorial and imperial provinces and linked legions to the princeps’ command. Consolidation of a professional army was gradual and coexisted with auxiliaries, regional recruitment, and local arrangements.

17. c. 27 BCE–c. 180

    Roman Principate and “Pax Romana”

    Augustus’s rule inaugurated the Principate. The phrase “Pax Romana” summarizes relative stability in parts of the empire alongside military expansion, inequality, and frontier conflict; it does not describe universal peace or a uniform provincial experience.

18. c. 20 BCE–c. 14

    Annona, roads, and Rome’s supply

    Under Augustus, grain-supply functions were reorganized and routes connecting Rome with Italy and the provinces were maintained or promoted. The annona depended on harvests, shipping, and coerced labor, not only on administrative decision.

19. 9

    Varian disaster and the Rhine frontier

    The defeat of three legions under Varus in 9 CE limited Roman plans east of the Rhine. The frontier remained a zone of trade, mobility, and conflict, not a sealed cultural barrier.

20. c. 50–c. 200

    The *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* and western Indian Ocean circuits

    The *Periplus*, a text from the early imperial period, describes ports, routes, and exchange possibilities from Roman Egypt through the Red Sea, the Horn of Africa, Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean. It is a Greek-speaking mercantile perspective, not a neutral or exhaustive map of every connected society; it records selective practical information and does not demonstrate Roman control over networks sustained by African, Arabian, and South Asian navigators and authorities.

21. 68–69

    Julio-Claudian end and Year of the Four Emperors

    After Nero’s suicide, rivalries among armies and elites produced a rapid succession of emperors. Vespasian’s victory founded the Flavian dynasty without eliminating the legions’ political importance.

22. 72–80

    Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum)

    The Flavians built the amphitheatre in Rome as a venue for public spectacles. Its architecture reveals technical capacity and imperial patronage without making the building a single symbol of Roman urban experience.

23. 79

    Vesuvius eruption and Campanian towns

    Vesuvius’ eruption engulfed Pompeii, Herculaneum, and nearby villas. The archaeological remains enable study of Roman towns, but do not by themselves represent the whole empire or freeze a society without prior change.

24. 101–106

    Dacian Wars and the province of Dacia

    Trajan’s campaigns against Dacia culminated in creation of a Roman province. The conquest reorganized resources, settlements, and populations on a Danubian frontier; it was not homogeneous integration.

25. 117–138

    Frontiers and urbanism under Hadrian

    Hadrian’s government favored frontier consolidation and building programs in imperial cities. “Consolidation” does not mean immobility: troops, traders, and communities continued to cross and negotiate boundaries.

26. c. 150

    Ptolemy systematizes coordinates and projections

    Claudius Ptolemy’s Geography combined a gazetteer with instructions for plotting places through latitude, longitude, and projections. It was not directly a nautical chart, and no secure original maps survive, but its system enabled map reconstruction and influenced later Islamic and European traditions.

27. c. 165–c. 180

    Antonine plague

    A widespread epidemic affected the empire from 165/166 until at least 180; Galen witnessed part of it. Its cause and exact demographic impact are debated, so no mortality totals are assigned here.

28. c. 165–c. 180

    Antonine epidemic (identification debated)

    Ancient sources and modern studies describe outbreaks affecting the Roman Empire from 165 CE and over subsequent decades. Their scope, mortality, and pathogen—often proposed as smallpox—remain debated, so this entry gives neither fixed figures nor a definitive diagnosis.

29. 193–235

    Severan dynasty, army, and administration

    Septimius Severus took Rome in 193 and his dynasty explicitly based authority on army support. Greater use of equestrian officers in key posts reshaped administration without erasing the weight of other elites and cities.

30. c. 200

    Redaction of the Mishnah

    The Mishnah’s redaction as a fixed text is usually placed around 200 CE in Galilee, though it gathers traditions from different periods and its later written transmission has its own history. It is a rabbinic compilation of debate and practice, not a closed state code.